Companion Animal Psychology

Gorgeous photos of happy dogs in their no-pull harnesses. Which one is your favourite? By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Drake (left) and Bacchus. Photo: Jackie Johnston (Adoption Specialist, Humane Society of Boulder Valley ). Bronson. Photo: Lisa Skavienski, CTC Bjorn. Photo: Sgian Dubh Nani. Photo: Tails in the Valley Dog Training Sophie. Photo: Megan Taylor Argie. Photo: Maria Karunungan Moo. Photo: Joanna Foxxy. Photo: Suzanne Bryner Photo: Courtney Bayer Titus. Photo: Nickala Squire Drake. Photo: Jackie Johnston (Adoption Specialist, Humane Society of Boulder Valley ) Bacchus. Photo: Jackie Johnston (Adoption Specialist, Humane Society of Boulder Valley ) Tucker (left) and Bronson. Photo: Lisa Skavienski, CTC Quinn and Riley. Photo: Tails in the Valley Dog Training This post is part o

A new study compares a harness to a neck collar and finds both are good for canine welfare. Milo. Photo: Sabrina Mignacca By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Harnesses are often said to be better for your dog than walking on a collar, but no one had investigated it. Now, a team of scientists at Hartpury College (Grainger, Wills & Montrose 2016) has published a study of the effects of walking a dog on a harness and on a neck collar. The same dogs were walked on a neck collar and on a harness on separate occasions, and their behaviour was monitored for signs of stress. The results show that harnesses do not cause stress and are a great choice for walking your dog. Dr. Tamara Montrose , one of the authors of the study, told me in an email, “Whilst neck collars are widely used when walking dogs, concerns have been raised about their potential to damage the neck and trache

A recent study highlights pet rabbit management practices. Although some owners take extra steps to protect their rabbit, many do not. Guest post by James Oxley (Independent Researcher, UK;  Twitter ) and Clare Ellis (Moulton College, UK;  Twitter ;  Web ). Rabbits sometimes get labelled as an easy pet to keep, and some owners may not consider that common pet care practices used for dogs and cats may also be beneficial for rabbits. In fact, a recent study by Oxley et al. has highlighted how few pet rabbit owners take precautions such as microchipping and pet insurance for their furry bunny friends. In the UK, it is now a legal requirement to microchip your pet dog and a recent call for compulsory microchipping of cats has been highlighted . Millions of pet owners are microchipping their pets, including dog, cats and smaller commonly kept pets. Compulsory dog microchipping in the UK came about as an effort to increase accountability of dog owners and to reduce the number of

Scientists find unanticipated results in a study that compares the clicker to a verbal reward-marker and the use of food alone in dog training. Photo: Melounix/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. The study, by Cinzia Chiandetti ( University of Trieste ) et al  took 51 pet dogs and trained them on a novel task. 17 dogs were trained using a clicker, 17 using a verbal reward marker (“Bravo”), and 17 with only a reward. Then they tested the dogs to see how well they performed when asked to generalize the training to something similar and something more different. The results were a surprise to the scientists, who expected to find that using the clicker would lead to better results. In fact there was no difference between the three groups of dogs. They write, “Although we should be cautious in drawing any strong conclusion from statistically non-significant results

An fMRI study shows different dogs have different preferences for food and social interaction. Photo: gpointstudio/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. A recent fMRI study investigates individual differences in dogs’ preferences for food and social interaction with their owner. The results have been widely – and erroneously – reported as showing that dogs prefer praise to food. In fact, the results paint a far more interesting picture of how brain activity predicts canine choice. I think most people feel subjectively that their dog loves them. The idea they might not is perplexing. But scientists have this wonderful habit of testing ideas, and a paper by Peter Cook  ( Emory University ) et al investigates dogs’ preferences for food and for social interaction with their owner. What if dogs love both? The team of neuroscientists at Gregory Berns’ lab took 15 dogs who

It’s not a good thing when dog trainers describe themselves as ‘balanced’. Here’s why. Photo: alexei_tm/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Get Companion Animal Psychology in your inbox. When you think about balancing dogs, your first thoughts might be of a dog walking along a beam, all nicely balanced and not falling off. Or maybe of a dog posing for a photo with a pile of cookies balanced on their muzzle, to show off how good their balancing skills are. But, unfortunately, this is not what people mean when they refer to ‘balanced’ dog training. What is balanced dog training? Balance is one of those weasel words in dog training . If we think of the word in the abstract, balance is a good thing; we don’t want to be off-balance and fall over. So it sounds persuasive. But in terms of dog training, balance has risks despite the name. Of course, balance is just a w

Scientists tracked down the evidence for a common statement about bite strength in dogs – and found it lacking. Photo: Matthew Lyon/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Have you ever read comments about the strength of a dog’s jaw when it bites? These statements are often made in relation to certain types of dog , like pit bulls. Maybe some people take it as fact. But what if it’s not true? A recent paper by Dr. Gary Patronek ( Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University ) et al traced citations in the literature and went back to the original sources to investigate the truth of the published statements. They say they chose the literature on the strength with which a dog can bite for several reasons, including that this is a salient figure that jumps out at people and is remembered, and that the literature was large enough and easy to assess for accuracy.